A Life Worth Living
by Dolphin River
Summary: Konoha has a secret watcher. Will what he has seen change them?


A/N:Inspired by the story _Secret Loser_ by Mister Pineapple. Check it out, because it's way better than mine. This might or might not become an estended story. Just depends on how popular it is.

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. If I did, Yondaime would still be alive. Though he is in my imagination.

**A Life Worth Living**

He had watched as the Kyuubi tore into the village's wall, trying to destroy the village, and he had decided to do something about it. Twelve years later, others unsuspecting, he had watched as a three-headed snake did the same. But this time he couldn't do a thing to stop it.

For two months afterward, he waited for that visit from his predecessor/successor, only to find that when the door finally opened for someone who wasn't his caretakers and guards, it was for a robust blond woman who looked to be in her mid-twenties, not the liver-spotted old man he had been expecting.

She gave him a _look_. A look that spoke more and less than he wanted it to. Just as always with people who saw he was actually alive for the first time, there was the requisite surprise. However, that look didn't tell him what he wanted to know. She blinked, the shock disappearing in a instant, and looked out his window over the village. It really was a great view.

When she moved, he noticed something. Her favorite necklace was gone. It had belonged to her grandfather, the Shodaime Hokage, he knew. He also knew that the necklace was her greatest treasure; she wouldn't give it up for the world, because of all the emotions that were connected to it. Which was why she had left the village, but now she was back, and his curiosity was beginning to itch. Still she did not speak, continuing to stare out the window. He did not press her, instead he waited, knowing that different people took pressure in different ways.

Her eyes narrowed slightly, face tightening with a new emotion. Unconsciously, she reached up to brush the place where the necklace used to rest.

"He's a lot like you, you know." He blinked. He didn't know, but he let her continue speaking. "It was because of him that I came back, damn stubborn brat. He still doesn't realize much, though."

He blinked again, understanding dawning on him. Could she really be talking about who he thinks she is? He opened his mouth to speak, but she cut him off.

"Orochimaru was the one who attacked the village. He organized an alliance with the Hidden Village of Sand, and they attacked in concert with his own village, the Sound." Her change of thought confused him. What did this have to do with the previous topic? "If it weren't for that damn brat or his team, things could have gone much worse. The sand had their own jinchuuriki. If intelligence is correct though, they were lucky they survived. Sarutobi-sensei is dead. He used your jutsu against Orochimaru."

He closed his mouth again, moving to the window to look out over everything he held dear. The words came as a blow to him. He had heard that Orochimaru had been spotted in the city halfway through the Chuunin Exams, but even he had a hard time believing that the Snake-sannin would go that far.

"Unfortunately," she continued, "he couldn't kill the bastard; he only managed to injure him. About a month later, Orochimaru found me in another village, hoping that I would heal him. That came as a surprise, but what was even more surprising was the fact that, later that night, Jiraiya found me as well, toting around a young, loud-mouth blond, telling me that the village wanted me to become Hokage." She gave him a wry smile. "The boy was spouting the most absurd nonsense, so we made a bet. If he could master a jutsu he was working on in a week, I would acknowledge that he could achieve his dream and give him a gift. If he couldn't, then I was to get all of the boy's money."

He frowned, but didn't interrupt her story. He knew that this was important.

"A week was the length of time Orochimaru had given me to make my decision. So, when he came to me the day that the brat was due to master the jutsu, I realized that I couldn't help him, no matter who we were in the past, or what he offered me in return. I began to fight with him and his subordinate, who he had used as a spy in Konoha. The boy was a medic-nin and a damn good one at that. After not fighting for so long, he managed to get me at a disadvantage. Then Jiraiya and the brat came with my assistant, Shizune, and things turned ugly. However, the brat actually managed to master the technique, right in the middle of battle, almost losing his life in the process." She smirked. "He's a tough one though, and that's how I became what I am now: the Godaime Hokage."

He gaped at her. She had been dead set against the village after the death of her lover and the betrayal of one of her teammates. But, now she has pledged her life to protect it? He couldn't believe his ears.

"I bet you're wondering what the bet was about." He snapped out of his reverie. She was smiling at him. "The dream I said I would acknowledge was that he would become Hokage. The jutsu he had to master was the Rasengan. And the present that I gave him was my grandfather's necklace."

He could have sworn that his eyes should have popped out of their sockets as he stared at her. Of course, he should have died when he sealed the Kyuubi, but sometimes things didn't work the way they were supposed to. She patted him on the shoulder as she walked out of the room, leaving him to his thoughts.

Confined to hishidden room, his thoughts were all he had, and the Yondaime Hokage would be damned if he didn't let them feel proud of his legacy.

"Naruto," he whispered, as he stared out the window once again, absentmindedly rubbing his stomach where his own curse seal blocked off his chakra, just as the one on Naruto did the same to the Kyuubi.


End file.
